Page 5 of Witch's Dawn
"These things never happen in the way we expect," said Minerva as she swept up the cards and shuffled them back into thedeck.
"Oh. Is that it?" Nona asked, looking slightlydisappointed.
"For free readings, yes dear," Minerva answered with a syrupy smile. She gestured me toward the chair. "Nowyou."
"No, that's okay," I protested as Nona got up and fumbled for a few dollars to throw in the tipjar.
"Sit," Minerva said moreinsistently.
I narrowed my eyes at her.Who the fuck do you think you are,woman?
"Come on, Deja," Nona pleaded, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air. "Maybe you'll win the lottery and split it withme!"
"A likely story," I mumbled as I reluctantly sat in thechair.
Minerva's eyes closed halfway as she shuffled her cards again. Through her heavy eyelashes, I could only see the whites of her eyes as if they had rolled back in her head. She took deep, heavy breaths in and out of her nose as sheshuffled.
I cast a skeptical sideways glance over at Nona. Already this reading was going in a completely different direction thanhers.
"There is so much conflicting energy surrounding you," Minerva announced, her eyes returning to focus on me. "My guides are weeping for you. They tell me your truth has been hidden away like a shameful secret. The time is approaching for your truth to be revealed to theworld."
Oh.Kay…
"Cool," I said, forcing a smile. Whatever it took for this weird little puppet show to be overwith.
Minerva did not look amused as she laid out my cards. Three of them face down. She didn't cut the deck and tell me to pick one like Nona. Her bejeweled hands hovered over my three cards for a moment before she finally flipped themover.
Something came over me the moment my eyes registered those little pictures. My heart skipped a beat and my scalp felt like it wasbuzzing.
The images depicted were far more dramatic than Nona's and didn't have the same little coin symbols. Each card had a word written on the bottom below itsimage.
The Tower. The Devil. TheLovers.
I scratched my head absently but the buzzing sensation only seemed to growstronger.
"This is your truth, my dear," Minerva said, tapping The Tower with a long, acrylic fingernail. "When you discover it, it will shake you to your very foundation. Your entire world will be turned on its head and you'll question everything you ever knew to betrue."
"That's comforting," Imuttered.
In the picture, a bolt of lightning struck the top of the tower with two figures falling toward the ground. It looked ominous and dark, but the picture I couldn't tear my eyes away from was TheDevil.
He had long, curling horns exactly like the giant goat's head just on the other side of the wall. His head looked somewhat goat-like as well, with the torso of a man but his legs had fur and claws like an animal. Standing in front of him were two naked figures with chains around theirnecks.
"What does The Devil card make you think of?" Minerva asked carefully. "How does it make youfeel?"
I opened my mouth but no words came out. My whole body buzzed now with a strange energy coursing through me. My skin was hot and that dull ache pulsed again between my legs. I clamped my thighs shut for some relief and I couldn't stop thinking of those three men just on the other side of thewall.
"Um, it represents sin? And lust, I guess." I crossed my legs, trying my best to lookbored.
Minerva made that smile again, the one that said she knew I was bullshitting but would play alonganyway.
"Yes, from a Judeo-Christian view it represents those things," she said, picking up the card and holding it up. "But he also speaks of enslavement to a certain mindset, an addiction if you will. And the ability to choose a different way. You always have free will,Deja."
The way she said my name echoed in my mind. It sounded familiar like she knew me from before I could rememberher.
"However," she said, picking up the final card, The Lovers, which depicted a nude couple embracing. "I feel strongly that The Devil and The Lovers are linked for you. Perhaps you will fall in love with a devilishly handsome man and he will free you from the mental prison that you still carry insideyou."
She set the card down on the table. "Or," she said with a wide, knowing grin. "You may even fall in love with The Devilhimself."
